The state of South Carolina, requires inmates to wear a pink jumpsuit for the first 3 months you are in prison if you have been convicted of a public sex act...the article isn't quite clear if that means something as benign as public nudity, or if it is only applicable to sex offenders.....

There is an inmate suing however, because having to wear a "fuschia" jumpsuit inhibits his manliness, and makes him more likely to be picked on and bullied by other inmates.

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Personally I think that once you are declared guilty, you have given up your rights to complain about anything beyond basic survival necessities; food, water, shelter - and only lack there of. Somehow I do not think that having to wear pink comes under the heading "cruel and unusual".

Also, having a sister that works for the county jail system of NH, I know that there usually is no one other than sex offenders and pedophiles that get harassed by other inmates in jail systems.

Might as well peg them out first off so that they can't hide. It's like the public sex offender list for the inmates (Most local news stations have links directly to the sex offender list here in Chas.)



What do you guys think?

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I have several problems with this, from the point of view of the Law, corrections policy, and ethics.

Let's start with the Law, or rather the policy, of placing inmates in pink if they engage in public sex acts. This means, it would appear, sex acts with the prison setting, and is supposedly to intended to protect female guards.

First off, I am not sure how this is supposed to "protect" female guards, of why the guards need protection. Sex in prison is usually of the male on male variety, or of the mastubatory variety. If the flower of southern womanhood that works in South Carolina's prisons have never thought that people locked up for years, perhaps even their lives, might requiire occassional sexual relief, then I suggest that they are, perhaps, just a little too sheltered to make good prison guards.

I'm also not sure why guards, who are authroized to use such force as is necessary to maintain order, need this extra "protection". I would think that billy clubs, tazers, teargass and firearms -- not to mention lockas and bars -- ought to provide as much proetction as is necessary. If not, then perhaps the whole prison system needs looking into.

I am also unclear, since prison guards have the quthroty to strip search inmates, and to observe them bathing, changing and heeding calls of nature, how seeing the male sex organ is supposed to be so shocking.

Not only that, since rape and forced sex is a part of the prison environment, and is in point of fact, used by the authorities as a means of intimidation in prisons, why would some inmates be forced to wear pink, and others not? Who is making these decisions and why?

Even if this was a law, and "sex crimes" were being punished in this way, what purpose does such a policy serve. So what if someone was drunk and nude in a public place? or caught have sex with his girlfriend in the park ot ( since this is illegal in SC) he had oral sex with his wife of 20 years in the privacy of his own bedroom. All of those fall within the broad definition of "public sex" under many criminal codes...but why does any of that need to be broadcast to the general prison population?

(Heck, even if it was a rapist or child molester, what right do the prison authroties have to place the inmates life at risk? Because the only purpose of placing such a person at risk of assault, or even death, at the hands of other inmates? Was the inmate sentenced to death by beating?

Not only that, in the interest of "order" the inmates that kill another inmate would have to be charged and prosecuted. In other words, doing what the State wants them to do would earn them additional punishment...and THAT is repugnant.)

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I have to disagree. First off, it's not as iff the justice system doesn't make mistakes. According to criminologists, as many as 1/3 of people are convicted erroneously. That means 33% of people in prison are suffering injustice already, and you think it is OK for them to suffer yet more? And that they should be stripped of the right to complain about it?? That's horrendous!

When the State decides to imprison someone, to deprive them of their liberty, whether the reason is good or bad, they are stripping that person of fundamental rights (liberty, and the ability to defend themselves among others). That means that the State assumes 100% of the responsibility for defending them; if the State fails to do so, it is absolutely necessary that it be held to account.

And the courts are the only mechanism which people convicted of crime have access to. In many states, they are deprived of their right to vote, even after release from prison (a separate outrage, but one I won't get into here).

Since the only point of the pink jumpsuit policy can have is to intimidate and persecute selected inmates (for the reasons mentioned above), I would say this is certainly an "unusual" policy, and one that has no place in the corrections system at all.


Ask her how she thinks the other prisoners would react to a male inmate wearing pink.


If you want to execute people for sex crimes, then have the courage to pass that into law. Don't expect other victims of the "justice" system to do it for you, and then punish them for it.


"Be seeing you..."

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Well I never said that I wanted to execute sex offenders, while I do think that current sentencing practices are a little on the lenient side.

I do realize that there are some inmates which are wrongfully incarcerated, however, for those that with out a doubt committed such an act I think it is due justice, that victim has to walk around with their emotional and psychological 'scarlet letter' their whole life, whats 3 months to an inmate? The way I see it, it is a reduced tit for tat.

As a prison guard you are trained in more than enough ways to take down a person regardless of your or their stature; either by force, sprays, or restraints. In the system my sister works for, all wear walkie talkies, there are at least 2 people watching the video cameras, as well as multiple locking doors. On top of that, as a prison guard, if you are intimidated by the inmates, they will know, and take full advantage of it, regardless of your or their gender.

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This is what my sister had to say in regards to the article:

We used to get this pedophile in all the time he liked young boys. We used to keep a special pair of polyester petty blue pants just for him. He loved them but all the inmates called him a fag. I don't think pink is going to discourage this behavior just from my experience they still do it.

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